01.01.1999 - GnomeREPORT
Computer curiosity killed the mouse, but it won't kill you. So,
for those wondering how the heck Lockergnome started, I've written
a small "story" for you to read. There's no violence or sex
and all shared information should be technology- or
Lockergnome-related. It isn't very short (like me) but it's
relatively complete. A few details were left out, but not too
many. If you could care less about myself or Lockergnome, or
if you think I talk about myself too much... well, nobody's
forcing you to read ANYTHING. Here's a teaser:
"I started using computers when I was an embryo. In fact, I was
downloading Placenta 3.2 a few hours before my birth. On July
26th, 1973, Christopher Joseph Pirillo version 1.0 was born-and
I've been in beta stages since then. I suppose every kid in my
generation played Oregon Trail on the Apple IIe at least four
times at his or her grade school. I was no exception. I know for a
fact that I played it at least five times, for sure. Then my
grandpa got a Commodore Vic20 that he had hooked up to an old
black & white television set. No disk drive-just a tape recorder.
I played around with it and memorized a few BASIC programs.
Nothing special. I felt smart for a fifth grader, though."
And that's just the beginning... click here for
the rest of the Lockergnome
Story. WARNING: this may take a while for you to read. Happy
New Year!!!
-- Chris Pirillo
GnomePROGRAM
MouseImp v0.5 [313k] W9x/NT FREE
http://www.tv4studios.com/downloads/mouseimp.exe
http://www.tv4studios.com/eng/holidays/
I'm still getting used to Manny's mouse controls. Sure, I could
use a PS/2 mouse when I've got room, but I need to master this
laptop's "default" method. Using a scroll bar is the biggest trick
(I often over- and undershoot it). Then I tried MouseImp. It's
perfect for those of us who are having difficulties manipulating
the mouse cursor; you can "scroll" ANYWHERE in a window by
clicking, holding, and dragging. MouseImp will also "shrink
Windows" temporarily out of your way. This puppy should work with
any mouse on any system. No cats allowed.
GnomeSYSTEM
Matrox MGA G200 v4.51 [1.5M] W9x
ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/mgag200/win95/1677_451.exe
http://www.matrox.com/mga/drivers/latest_drivers/ftp_mgag200.htm
"This product includes a display driver and the Matrox PowerDesk
for Windows 95/98 for the G200 AGP only (including G200 PCI). DX6
support. Optimizations for Winbench 99. Fixes bugs for several
games (e.g. Flight Simulator 98, Half Life, SiN, Grim Fandango).
Fixes bugs for G200 PCI." Now, if only we could get some decent
OpenGL support here...
GnomeCANDY
Xara 3D v3.0 [895k] W9x/NT US$40
http://www.xara.com/software/xara3d3n.exe
http://www.xara.com/xara3d/
Some of you have seen the new graphical header on Lockergnome's
site (thanks to Joe Burke for prodding me to put something up
there). I couldn't have done it without Xara3D. If you're
considering doing anything three-dimensionalish with text, you
can't be without this new version (now you can do shadows and
different animations). Within a matter of seconds, you can have a
"text graphic" customized, saved (GIF, BMP, JPG, etc.), and ready
to be posted to your website. It's one of those killer apps, gang.
GnomeFAVORITE
Installing Windows 98 Lite
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~ssbrooks/98lite/
So many of you have told me about this site, so I figured I'd let
the rest of you know about it, too. It's a very interesting
concept: installing Windows 98 without Internet Explorer 4. At
this time, the author doesn't have a program to remove IE4 from an
already-installed Windows 98, but if you want a fresh (truly
clean) start of things, you should see the Lite! I'd only suggest
doing this if you're an advanced user. It isn't perfect in every
way, but "98Lite" could easily make your Windows 98 system even
faster.
GnomeDESKTOP
THEMES: Beanie Babies
http://varos.simplenet.com/themes/index.shtml
Now that the big wave of Beanie Babies fever has died down, it's
safe to let you know about this page of beaniebabish Desktop
Themes. I thought I would have been able to get through life
without ever owning one, but Gretchen gave one to me for a
Christmas present (since we can't have real dogs in our
apartment). His name is Tracker and he's a Basset Hound. I would
have preferred a West Highland White or Scottish Terrier, but
this'll have to do for now. At least I don't have to housebreak
him.
GnomeTIP
Lockergnomie Thomas Hecker submitted a killer Windows 98 Easter
Egg (which I have yet to see mentioned elsewhere). View "hidden"
JPG images that are within a DLL file. To see them, click the
Start button, then Run, then type: "res://membg.dll/bld27.jpg"
(without the quotes). Substitute "bld27.jpg" with any other JPG
file in this list: http://www.lockergnome.com/images/membg.jpg --
be sure to check out "backgnd.gif" while you're at it. have fun,
gang!